


A Place Above the Shadows

by 221b_hound



Series: Guitar Man [83]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Aunt-Niece Relationship, Brother-Sister Relationships, Character Death, Gen, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 08:10:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1462072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/221b_hound/pseuds/221b_hound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Watson had three things by which to remember her mother: her rings, two china bulldogs, and the certainty that everyone you loved would leave you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Place Above the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> This covers some of [Through the Ghost](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1446886)through Harry's eyes.
> 
> The title comes from the same Shinedown song, Through the Ghost.

Harriet Watson had three things to remember her mother by. Fiona's rings, two porcelain dogs and the certainty that everyone you loved abandoned you.

Fiona fondly joked that her kids were fierce little bullpups. One year, they pooled their pocket money to buy the ugly pair. Fiona treasured them.

Jack kept Fiona's rings, 'for when Harry gets married'. But he forbade her to wear them to marry Clara.

Clara abandoned her. Like Mum. Like Dad. Like John.

Then Violet came.

"She looks like Mum, but dark," Harry thought.

It broke Harry’s heart again, surprisingly. She didn't think she’d any heart left to break.

Then Violet called. Sent postcards. _Persevered._

_**Stayed.** _

Initially, Harry wasn't gracious. Never wrote back. But she showed the cards to anyone who’d listen. "That's my niece. She's going to be a doctor. Isn't she amazing?"

In time, she told Violet, too.

At the end, Harry, eight months dry, saw Violet regularly. Violet brought John one visit. It was tentative. Hard. Wonderful. They hugged; cried; reminisced.

Harry showed him the bulldogs. They laughed, and cried again.

Violet was 17 when Harry died, no longer a ghost. A little healed. Much happier. Her brother and niece held her trembling hands.

“I can see Mum,” she sighed as she went, “Oh, John, John, she’s _smiling_ , and her eyes are so _blue_.”


End file.
